The present invention relates to a carrier intended for one or several electronic components, which comprises spaces provided for said components. The invention also relates to a method for manufacturing the carrier.
LTCC (Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic) tape, e.g Green Tape(copyright) from DuPont, is known to be a very good medium when producing carriers for electronic components. The aim of a carrier is mainly to provide mechanical support for the components mounted on it and to allow arrangement of conductor paths.
The increasingly reduced size of components has enabled mounting of components inside the carrier or in cavities provided for receiving the components. A major problem within the electronics is the transferring heat generated by the components. Usually, the components are provided with cooling flanges or the like, which result in an additional manufacturing step and require more space. Specially when using MCM (Micro Circuit Material) components, cooling is difficult to accomplish because of the size of the components.
The Swedish Patent Application No. 9803204-8 discloses a new method and device for buried components, which eliminates a time consuming and complicated hole making between an upper surface layer of a carrier and the contact points of a component The carrier is made of, e.g glass epoxy material or ceramic materials. According to the application, vias are used for cooling of components.
On the market there are also so called xe2x80x9cchip baysxe2x80x9d, which consist of bays etched in silicon plates. These bays can also be moulded in plastics. However, they have the common disadvantage of conducting heat poorly. Chip bays can also be made of recesses in metal.
An object of the invention is to provide a carrier, preferably made of LTCC material, which in a very simple way permit mounting and cooling of electric component arranged inside or outside the carrier. The important advantage of the invention is that it allows a carrier and a cooling element in the same unit.
A second object of the invention is to provide a good ground plate essentially built in the carrier itself.
These objects have been achieved through the carrier consisting of at least partly conductive LTCC (Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramic) material with good thermal conduction capacity, so that the carrier besides providing mechanical support for the components also removes heat generated by the components.
Preferably, the carrier consists of a material comprising glass mixed with metallic particles, permitting refire of the material. Advantageously, said spaces comprise cavities or recesses which surround the components for better thermal conduction. Said components may comprise circuits according to the industrial standard xe2x80x9cflip chipxe2x80x9d, which comprise a first surface and a second surface, which first surface is arranged with one or several contact points for connection to contacting members, which extend out of said space. The second surface is brought into the space and is fastened by means of an adhesive.
To provide a carrier with conductor paths, the surface of the carrier which carries the component and a portion of the component may be provided with a dielectric layer, afterwards the dielectric layer is provided with one or several conductor paths, which are connected to said contacting member.
In a preferred embodiment, said spaces are made through pressing or stamping.
The method according to the invention for manufacturing of a substantially heat conducting electronic component carrier, which consists of a LTCC material and is provided with spaces for receiving one or several electronic components, comprises the steps: producing a suitable piece of LTCC material, producing, at least on a main surface of the piece, at least one space provided for said components, bringing the piece into a substantially solid form, adding adhesive for attaching components, bringing said components into said spaces and fixing them by means of the adhesive, providing said main surface and components with a dielectric layer, producing conductors on said dielectric layer and to connect the conductors to a contacting member connected to said component.